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Title: A Preliminary Report on the First Season of Excavation at Jayran Tepe in the Plain of Esfarayen, Northeastern Iran, 2012
Author(s): VAHDATI, Ali A.
Journal: Iranica Antiqua
Volume: 51    Date: 2016   
Pages: 85-101
DOI: 10.2143/IA.51.0.3117829

Abstract :
The Iron Age in Northeastern Iran is one of the least understood periods of Iranian archaeology. Recent archaeological excavations in early Iron Age sites and systematic surveys in Northern Khorasan have made it possible to draw a sketch of the development of the Early Iron Age cultures in northeastern Iran. These fieldworks show that during the Early Iron Age two contemporary but different cultures were present in Northern Khorasan: Yaz depe I culture (ca. 15th-11th BC), characterized by the presence of handmade painted pottery, and the culture of the Archaic Dahistan (approximately 14/13th-6th BC) with its Grey Ware, that is the direct continuation of the Gorgan–Hissar culture. In this paper I have briefly discussed results of the recent excavations at the early Iron Age site of Jayran Tepe and conclude that in the late second and early first millennium BC this part of Northeastern Iran was engaged in close cultural interactions both with the Gorgan and Misrian plain (ancient Dehistan), the plain of Damghan, as well as the lowlands of Murghab delta (Margiana).

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